A Debt Soul-Deep
by Chloe5616
Summary: When Maka starts acting strangely and avoiding her friends, it's up to Soul to find out what's wrong. Little does he know, if he doesn't hurry, the Maka he knows and loves may be gone forever. Written by BrimofInsanity and I.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Chloe5616 here! We're back! Anyway, just a warning, this story will probably take longer to update; but I also think it's better quality, so, that's good. And I'm gonna tell you right now; there's not nearly as much plot as there is mindless fluff in this chapter. Really, like two pages out of nine are actual plot. It's kind of like the beginning and the end could be stand-alone fluffy one-shots, with some plot squeezed in the middle. Don't worry, more plot is on the way! Reviews are still amazing. On with the story!

A/N: Hey. This is a very pissed CronaSoulEater. I am forced to type this on a tablet because being on the computer too long is bad, according to everyone but me. Probably going to take me ten minutes to type this. Anyways, this chapter doesn't have a lot of that saliva exchanging (what Chloe calls it), but I will work on putting more out there for the next chapter. Please excuse any spelling mistakes, I really can't stand touchscreen keyboards.

Maka's POV

"Soul, I don't know.." I looked up anxiously at the huge ride Soul was begging me to go on. I was afraid of heights, and he knew that, but he didn't want to go alone.

"Please, Maka? For me?" He begged, looking at me with big puppy dog eyes. It was hard to resist that look.

"Ugh! Fine." I said with a sigh. He had been begging me for over fifteen minutes now. Overjoyed, he did a quick fistpump before grabbing my hand and dragging me into the line for the ride.

Once we boarded, I squeezed the bar holding us and closed my eyes, wishing I was anywhere else. I really don't know why I always let him drag me into these things. I almost wished we hadn't even come to this stupid park, but it made Soul happy. At least one of us should be happy, especially with all that's happening. My thoughts were interrupted when I felt a light squeeze. I opened my eyes and looked down to see Soul holding my hand.  
"It'll be fine, Maka. Don't worry, I won't let anything happen." He said with what I assumed was supposed to be a reassuring smirk. I tried to smile back, but it came out as more of a grimace. Soul chuckled softly, squeezing my hand again.

When the ride started I felt my heart drop down into my stomach. I closed my eyes and counted the seconds until it would be over. How long can this ride really be? Two minutes? I can survive two minutes, right?

My idea of counting was completely forgotten as the ride suddenly stopped. I dared to open my eyes, and nearly threw up. The ride had paused at the top of the lift, and any second now we would plunge down the huge drop, followed by several sharp turns and huge loops. I locked my body in place, and my hands turned white where they were holding onto the bar. Then we fell. Instead of screaming like the people around me, I curled in on myself and tried not to puke. I heard Soul laugh and shout in glee next to me.

Luckily, the drop was over soon, but then came the turns. I was thrust into the other side of the seat, and incidentally into Soul. I gripped onto his arm for dear life. I was too mortified to look at him, ashamed at how scared I was. Another turn was coming. I was pretty sure that was the last one, but that meant the loops were next. Oh no. I clutched Soul tighter, probably cutting off his circulation, and buried my face in his jacket. My knuckles were white from gripping so hard and my face was, I'm sure, a deep shade of scarlet.

Soul's POV

I laughed as Maka tried to hide herself in my jacket; it was cute though, and I blushed a little. I felt a tiny bit guilty for making her come on the ride, not that I would ever tell her that. I really just wanted her to be scared and cling to me. It seemed to be working. Pretty soon we were on the loops, and she held on tighter. My arm was quickly turning numb. I took the rare advantage of her not paying attention to stare at her. Usually if she caught me staring she would Maka-chop me before quickly looking away, blushing. Black*Star thinks I should ask her out. I remember when he first brought it up.

"What?" I had asked, jumping at his words.

"Dude, it's obvious you like her," He said in his usual arrogant tone.

"Seriously?" I said too quickly. I had tried to cover up my apparent embarrassment with "I don't like her.."

My thoughts were interrupted by Maka's silent sobs. I could feel my heart shattering, and I felt even worse about asking her to come with me. I would just have to make it up to her.

As soon as we got off, I grabbed her hand and pulled her away from the crowd of people getting off the ride. I lead her over to a dark, small space in between a few tents.

"Soul, what are you doing?" She asked. I had let go of her hand, and was running my fingers through my hair, agitated. Apologies were not my thing.

Clearing my throat, I said "I-I'm sorry about the ride thing. I didn't think it'd be that bad."

"It's okay, Soul. Just give me a minute to recuperate." She said, looking down at the ground. An about how to cheer her up hit me.

"Wait right there! Don't move!" I ran over to the nearby cafe. A few minutes later I came back with one of those oversized pretzels they sell everywhere. I jogged back to Maka and handed it to her.

"Here, eat this. It'll help you feel better." She looked skeptical.

"Soul, how is eating going to help me after I could barely keep breakfast down on that ride?"

"Trust me, it'll make you feel more... I dunno- grounded, that's it! It always helps me when I go on an intense ride."

She hesitated, then nibbled on the edge of the pretzel. After letting that sit for a few seconds, she took another, larger bite. After a little more than half of the pretzel, she smiled widely.

"What do you know, Soul? You were actually right about something for once."

I smiled back at her. "What do you mean? Cool guys are always right, you just choose to ignore it." I shoved my hands in my pockets and leaned against a sturdy tent, relaxed now that Maka wasn't upset with me anymore. It's good to see her so happy, she's been acting kind of down for the past few weeks, I thought.

"So what would you like to do while we're here?" I asked, wanting to make her happiness last.

She chattered happily about what we could do for the rest of the day while she finished her pretzel. After throwing away the wrapping that came with it, we started walking back towards to rides and games. I was happy just to follow her lead.

We played a few games before making our way towards the parking lot, where we eventually found my motorcycle.

I could tell Maka was exhausted when we arrived at the apartment. Since it was my turn to cook anyway, I made some Ramen for us to eat.

"Thank you for today, Soul." Maka said once we had finished eating. She looked tired and weary.

"No problem." She turned towards her room. "Goodnight, Maka."

She stopped walking for a moment, and turned back around. Before I knew what was happening, she had walked back over to me, kissed me on the cheek, and darted off into her room. Dumbfounded, I put my hand to my cheek and wondered what had just happened.

Maka's POV

Stupid, why the hell did you do that! I cursed myself. I really hope he doesn't bring that up. Ever. Still, I had bigger problems to worry about. Shaking the thought, I noticed a note laying on my pillow. Knowing what it was, I clenched my fists and took a deep breath. The number of souls I would have to collect; my debt to the witches. I blinked away tears, unable to stop the memories that had started to surface.

~Two Weeks Ago~

I was walking home from the academy, enjoying the fresh air and the view of all the blooming flowers that spring brought on when I heard a shrill scream from a few yards away. Immediately, I ran towards the noise, determined to help whoever was in trouble. I turned a corner and listened for any more noise to guide me. As I stood and listened, someone had sneaked up behind me held an odd smelling rag over my mouth. The next thing I knew, everything was black.

I had no idea how long I was unconscious, but when I woke up there was a blindfold over my eyes and my hands were tied behind my back. I heard muffled voices around me, but couldn't make out what they were saying.

They must have known I was awake, because pretty soon they jerked me up and had me walk. After a few minutes of walking, they shoved me back down onto my knees and pulled off the blindfold.

"Oh, is she finally awake?" The voice that had spoken was sweet, but had an edge, like someone who had spent a lot of time charming people into doing what she wanted. I looked up for the source of the voice. Sitting on what resembled a throne a few feet ahead was a woman with blood-red hair and black eyes. She wore an airy black gown that piled on the floor around her legs. I took a few seconds to look around and analyze my surroundings. The entire room had a cave-like appearance. The ceiling was rounded upwards and appeared to be red clay. There was a torch on both sides of the throne the mysterious woman was sitting in, and beyond those, small wooden doors on each side. It looked like some kind of cult lair.

"Where am I? What do you want with me?" I demanded to the throne woman.

"That's not a very polite greeting, now is it? We could at least start with an introduction. My name is Kairi; and you're Maka." Rising from her seat, she stalked over to me and grabbed my chin, studying my face. "You look just like your mother."

"How would you know?" I spat, already seething at the mention of my mother.

"We'll get to that soon enough. First we're going to make a deal." Confidence dripped from her voice.

"Why would I ever make a deal with you? You're a witch, aren't you?" I assumed that here workers were witches as well, but judging by the throne that she was the most powerful.

"Good guess. And you're going to make a deal with me because if you don't, everyone you care about will die." She said with a wicked gleam in her eyes.

My eyes widened, but I controlled them quickly. I couldn't let the witches see any weakness. "And why shouldn't I just tell Lord Death and have him sick the Academy's finest on you?" I challenged.

"Now we're getting to the good part." She turned to her nearest henchman. "Bring out the prisoner."

He nodded and left with another minion through a door to the left of the throne. After a moment, they returned with the prisoner Kairi had spoken of. Her hands were tied behind her back and she was being roughly shoved to her knees on the dirt floor. However, instead of a blindfold covering her eyes, there was a black burlap sack thrown over her head. Kairi strode over to her and yanked off the sack in one fluid movement of her hand.

"Mom!" I gasped. As far as I had known, she'd been traveling abroad. How could a witch have found her?

"Maka! Are you alright?" Kami asked, eyes full of concern. My mother looked awful; her long blonde hair was tangled and matted, and her forest green eyes had dark rings around them, like she hadn't slept in weeks. It was probably true if she had been held captive for several days.

"I'm fine mom, but do you know what this is all about?"

She opened her mouth to reply, but Kairi cut her off.

"Now, now girls. Don't interrupt my telling of the deal." She smirked at me, then continued talking. "I'll be frank. Here's the deal; you're going to get me one-hundred human souls, and in exchange, your mother lives and your town stays intact. Tell anyone, Lord Death, your friends, anyone, about this and your mother dies. Do we have a deal?" She asked in a sickly sweet voice.

"What do you want with souls? You can't use them for yourself," I sneered at her.

"Now that's where you're wrong, Maka. Souls are power. Think of how many Kishin eggs would kill for them. That's a lot of power on my side."

"Maka, don't! I'm not worth-" Kami was cut off when a henchmen hit her with a gloved fist. She fell to the side, unable to hold herself up with her hands tied behind her back, and too weak from captivity to stop from falling. I felt useless, not able to help my mother or myself.

"I'll ask one more time. Do we have a deal?" Kairi kneeled in front of me, meeting my eyes. I bowed my head, breaking the connection, and looked at the ground. At least there was one thing I could do to kept my loved ones safe.

"We have a deal."

Present

I shuddered at the thought of what had happened that night. With a sigh, I flopped down onto my bed, too tired and distracted to change, and fell asleep.

Soul's POV

I woke up early, and had only slept a few hours; there was nothing to do and I was so bored. Usually Maka was up before me and we would do something together. Without realizing it, I had stopped my mindless pacing right outside of Maka's door. Driven by boredom, I eased open the door and slipped in, shutting it gently behind me. My eyes quickly found Maka, sprawled on the floor. I stifled a laugh and kneeled down next to her. She was a complete mess; shoes still on, clothes wrinkled from yesterday, mouth hanging open.. That was my Maka. Without realizing it, I had started to lean forward to kiss her. Praying she wouldn't wake up, I lightly brushed my lips against hers. I jerked back suddenly when her eyes fluttered open. Shit, shit, shit..

Trying to cover up my embarrassment, I put on a smirk and said, "Mornin'."

She stared at me for a moment with a shocked expression. Crap, what do I do? The look on my face was becoming strained. "I, uhh.." Oh shit, I'm choking! Quick, say something cool! I racked my brain for something to say. "Pancakes!" That works, too. "I'm making panca-" I was interrupted when she sat up and kissed me. Surprised and unsure of what to do, I kissed her back.

She pulled away after a few seconds. "So where are my pancakes?"

With another smirk and a deep blush, I got up, went to the kitchen, and started making pancakes.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Chloe5616 here! Sorry it's been awhile since we've updated, but we've had some technical difficulties, along with some writer's block on my end. But we're back now, and I really hope that you enjoy the chapter. CronaSoulEater can't put up an A/N: for this chapter because her computer is acting up, but hopefully it will work better for the next update. Thanks to all the reviews, they really helped get the chapter written. And thank you for pointing out that the picture for the story was my profile picture... The Doitsu Potato probably confused a lot of people...Hopefully the next chapter won't take as long to put up. Thanks for reading, and don't forget to review.**

Maka's POV

Once Soul had left, I held my hand up to my lips and smiled. Well, that was new. Stretching, I realized that I was laying on the floor. I must've fallen out of bed sometime last night. I put my hand out to steady myself as I stood, pausing when I heard the sound of paper crinkling under my hand. I looked down at it and scowled. The note. Leave it to witches to ruin a perfect moment. After shutting my door, I changed into a clean pair of clothes. I would have to find a way to go out later without Soul asking too many questions. I'll just tell him I'm going shopping with Tsubaki. Hesitating a bit, I eased open the door and made my way into the kitchen. Soul was at the stove, flipping pancakes and humming happily. I smiled at the sight. For a trained weapon, it took him awhile to notice I was standing there. He smirked when he saw me standing in the doorway.

"Pancakes are almost done." He said.

"Took you long enough," I said in a joking tone. Sitting down at the table, I watched him work at the stove; and then I started to frown. I wish I could tell him about the witch. He could help me. How am I supposed to get the souls without a weapon?

I hadn't given any thought on how to obtain all these souls that Kairi was demanding. Without a weapon, no less. She said not to tell anyone. How am I supposed to save everyone by myself? And how in the world am I supposed to get a hundred human souls? I didn't want to hurt anyone, and who knows what might happen to my own soul. I thought maybe killing a Kishin egg would get me a few at a time. But taking them didn't seem right either. One thing was for sure, getting all those soul's would weigh heavily on my conscience.

I was shaking now, and blankly staring at the plate set in front of me. Then I realized Soul was watching me. Crap. He isn't supposed to know anything is wrong.

"Are you OK?" Soul said. He looked really worried. I had to stop myself from crying, I wanted to tell him so bad.

"I'm fine." I replied with a tight smile. I had tried to be reassuring, but it was clear he wasn't buying it. He didn't pressure me for any information, which was good.

"Thank you for breakfast." I said once we'd finished eating. He smiled and nodded. "I'm going to meet Tsubaki at the mall, but I'll be back tonight." I didn't like lying to Soul, but at least half of that was true. I really was going to the library.

Soul's smile faltered briefly, but he covered it quickly. "Alright." He said, and there was an awkward pause. I leaned over, kissed his cheek softly, and left the apartment; then I headed towards the library.

Soul's POV

My smile dropped as soon as Maka left. _Is she upset with me? Is it about this morning?_ I wondered. It bothered me that she was upset. We used to tell eachother everything. Now she was hiding something from me; and I was going to find out.

Her bedroom would be a good place to start. I double checked that she really had left; satisfied, I pushed open the door to her bedroom. What was I even looking for? A diary? A journal of some sort? That's when I noticed a small piece of crumpled paper lying on the floor. It was barely hidden underneath her bed. I picked up, and it read:

_100 souls by Friday. Disobeying me_

_will result in the destruction of_

_everything you love. Have a nice day!_

What was that supposed to mean? 'Destruction of everything you love'.. Was someone threatening Maka? I stuffed the note in my pocket and continued searching for anything that could give me an idea of what the note meant, but there was nothing else to find. With a sigh, I walked into the living room and plopped onto the couch to try to make sense of the note.

Maka's POV

I had searched for books on fighting alone, and found a few martial arts dictionaries.. I wouldn't have time to learn anything useful. The librarian had shown me books on weapons, choosing a weapon, finding a weapon, "I Just Found Out I'm a Weapon", and so on. The only book I found with real information was "Kishin Weak Points - Fighting Without a Live Weapon".

"This looks useful," I whispered to myself. The book was thin, and after I had checked it out, I walked down to a park to read. It talked a lot about weapons without souls, which didn't make a lot of sense to me. The book talked about weapons that never turned into humans. They didn't even talk. How could someone fight with a weapon that doesn't even do anything? It seemed about as useful as hitting a Kishin with a stick. But under the circumstances, what choice did I really have? I skimmed through the section of Kishin weaknesses, taking note of the ones I would be most likely to use.

_"Most Kishins have a weak spot that makes them practically vulnerable. Finding it, however, is a different matter. Their weakness may not even be on there body. Some have been found to be easily distracted by shiny objects or large amounts of people, or as they see it, souls. Others who have vulnerable body parts (i.e., chest, shoulder, foot, thigh, etc.) are more common._

I can use this. If I can get one of those sharp sticks that don't help you in battle, and I can find the kishin's weak point, I could do this.

Then it hit me that I have to get one hundred souls. In only one week. The sudden happiness I had a few seconds ago was gone now. This was absolutely hopeless. No, I can't think like that. My friends are in danger, I can't give up! Oh, who am I kidding?! There's no way I can get all those souls. Everyone I care about is going to die, because I can't get those souls.

I fell to my knees in despair. This time, I didn't stop myself from sobbing. I didn't care if anyone saw me. Everyone was going to die, and it was my fault.

Soul's POV

After trying to understand the note for more time than I want to admit, I decided to clear my head with a walk. At the very least, the fresh air would help me think. I stopped at a nearby diner and got myself a drink. On my way back to the apartment, I noticed someone on the sidewalk. Wait, was that... Maka?

"Maka?" I said. She was sitting on the sidewalk with her legs splayed out at an awkward angle, and I could hear her sobbing.

"Hey, what's wrong?" I kneeled down next to her and she looked up at me with tears in her eyes. Pulling her into a hug and murmuring, "It's okay, shh," into her hair, she sobbed even more into my jacket. This must have had something to do with the note.

After a few moments I gently pushed her away and pulled the crumpled note out of my pocket. "Maka, what's this?"

Her eyes widened, and she pushed herself away, falling backwards onto the sidewalk. "Where did you get that?" She whispered, voice hoarse.

"It was on your bedroom floor." I blushed. "You were acting weirder than usual, so I wanted to find out what was wrong. What does it mean?"

"You should have left it." She moaned and buried her face in her hands. "It would have been better if you didn't know. That way you wouldn't worry about it."

"Worry about what? Maka, what's going on?" I tilted her chin upward, forcing her to look at me.

"Soul..." She wouldn't look me in the eye. "I-I can't tell you."

I felt my own eyes starting to tear up. Uncool. On top of that, I was becoming irritated. "We used to tell eachother everything, and all of a sudden you shut down and stop talking to me. Please, let me help."

The new wave of tears that Maka had been holding back broke loose, and she buried her face in my shoulder again.

"You don't understand," she whispered. "They have my mom."

"Who, Maka? Who's doing this?" I grabbed her shoulders and shook her frantically. She pulled her head back and shook it wildly, choking on her sobs.

"They'll kill her! I can't-"

"Yes, you can, Maka!" I finally snapped. "If you haven't noticed in all the time we've been partners, it's my job to help you!"

She cried for another minute, then took a deep breath.

"T-The witches have my mom." She whispered, looking at the ground. "They're going to kill her and everyone is town unless I get them a hundred souls by Friday."

"Human souls?" I asked.

She nodded, unable to say anymore. I pulled her into another hug, and she buried her face in my shoulder. I looked down at her sobbing figure for a few moments, then made a decision. Making sure her head was resting safely on my shoulder, I picked her up and started towards the apartment. She either didn't notice, or didn't care; because she didn't comment. I didn't realize she had fallen asleep until we got to the apartment. I took her to her room and layed her on her bed. I kissed her forehead softly before going to bed myself.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Chloe5616, here. Um. So... It's been awhile, huh. NOT MY FAULT! BrimofInsanity got me hooked on Black Butler, and DID NOT TELL ME THERE WAS A SECOND SEASON. So I was trying to write after that, didn't work very well. But then there was a second season and it was okay. This chapter was written awhile ago, but for some reason I thought it wasn't done. No idea when the next chapter will come out. Hopefully soon, but school work is already taking up loads of time. Anyway, enjoy!

A/N: So I've been really busy doing the procrastinating, I haven't written much. I'm trying though. I told Chloe I'd be writing (which is a big thing since we normally get on here and mess around with Hetalia pictures) and she was all like "Yayy" and then I sent her pictures of that Spongebob episode where he has to write the essay. For like..20 minutes. I stared at this one paragraph and could not think of anything to write. All I could think about was who I would cosplay as, if given the opportunity. Anyways. ~CronaSoulEater/BrimofInsanity(I changed it, just remembered.)

Maka's POV

My eyes opened blearily to the obnoxious beeping of my alarm. Groaning, I rolled over and hit it until it finally shut up. I rubbed my hand over my eyes and sat up. I looked down. Why am I still dressed- oh. Memories of last night flooded my mind. Soul must have brought me home. Oh, shit, what is Soul going to say? I rolled out of bed and tiptoed to the door, cringing each time the floorboards creaked under my feet. Easing the door open, I looked across the hallway into Soul's room. I could just barely make out the outline of his feet in his bed.

I breathed a quiet sigh of relief and made my way into the kitchen. I realized that all of my sneaking was in vain, however, when I saw Blair sitting with her legs crossed on the kitchen counter.

"Good morning, Maka!" She said with a mockingly cheery voice. "What's with all the sneaking around? Does it have something to do with where you and Soul were last night?" She winked at me.

I flushed. "It's nothing like that, Blair! Now could you please be quiet, you're going to wake-"

"Morning." Soul said, appearing behind me. I jumped, having not heard him come in. Turning around, I saw that his eyes were practically glued on me.

"Good morning, Soul!" Blair chirped. There was a moment of awkward silence. Soul stared at me, and I back at him. Blair, with her impeccable cat senses, found a way to subtly remove herself from the apartment.

"Well, something obviously happened between you two, and as much as I'd love to stay for the drama, I'm going to leave." She pranced out of the apartment.

Simultaneously, Soul and I put our hands on our foreheads and sighed.

"Why do we even let that stupid cat stay with us?" Soul asked, pinching the bridge of his nose. I snorted, but didn't answer. There was another long pause. Neither of us seemed to know what to say.

"Maka-" I cut him off.

"What would you like for breakfast?" I asked, trying to stall the inevitable conversation.

"Maka, you can't get out of this." Soul said, not buying my act. I suppose that was to be expected, given that we knew nearly everything about each other.

"Fine." I sighed. "Ask away, I know you have questions."

"When did all this start?"

"About two weeks ago. I was walking home from school, and someone grabbed me. I woke up in a witch's lair." Soul clenched his fists, obviously trying to hold back his anger until he had all the answers he wanted.

"What happened there?"

I told the story in the shortest and most emotionless way I could manage. "Once they realized I had woken up, I was taken into a larger room. It looked like it was in a cave of some sort. There was a witch named Kairi, and she told me I was going to make a deal with her. I asked her why I shouldn't just have the academy attack her. That's when she brought my mother in." I took a deep breath her, trying to keep my emotions in. "She's being held captive wherever I was taken. The deal I was forced to make was that I would get the witches one hundred human souls, and in return they would leave the city alone, and return my mother to me. The witch said that if I told anyone, they'd kill my mom." I looked at Soul with pleading eyes. "That's why we can't tell anyone, Soul, I'm begging you. If they find out I told you..." I led off, not wanting to say it. I had been looking down at the ground, but now I raised my head, daring to see Soul's expression.

He seemed more relaxed now, but there was still a glint of anger in his eyes.

"Fine, Maka. I won't tell anyone." I opened my mouth to speak, but he cut me off. "For now."

"What? Soul-"

"The second you or anyone else is in immediate danger, we get help, and we go after that witch."

I shook my head, preparing to try and reason with him. He cut me off with a look. For a moment, things were silent again.

"What about the souls?" I whispered, afraid to say it very loudly.

"Simple. We're not getting any souls. We're going after the witch."

* * *

General POV

Kami Albarn had been in some pretty tough situations. There was the time that a group of Kishin teamed up to kill her, or when some rogue meisters and weapons decided she knew too much, even when she was up against a Kishin and Spirit was too busy out at a bar or with some tramp to be bothered to remember that they had a mission. But she didn't think she'd ever been in quite this much trouble. She'd let her guard down, and now Maka was paying for it.

Kami had been taken in nearly the same way as Maka. She'd been in Madrid that week, and after checking out a potential Kishin sighting, had decided to walk home and enjoy the nice weather. She mentally kicked herself for it now. But now was not the time to dwell over the past.

Her arms were chained above her head and she was in a small dirt room. There was an iron door keeping any light that might be outside from getting in. The only light she had was a measly torch on the other side of the room.

The silence of the little cave was interrupted by the creak of the iron cell door. Kami raised her head to see who was there, and was greeted by the sight of Kairi walking through. Kairi smirked smugly down at her.

"Good morning, Kami. Or is it night? Oh, well. It's not like you can tell down here anyway." Kairi said in the sickly sweet voice of hers.

Kami remained silent, her arms hanging limply above her.

"Nothing to say today, either? What a shame. How do you think Maka's doing today?"

Kami remained silent, but her shoulders tensed.

"I do hope she hasn't told anyone. She knows what it would mean for you, and I would just hate to see a young girl lose her mother like that. Not that there was really a lot of a mother figure there. Where exactly have you been for the last few years?"

Kami lunged forward at Kairi without thinking, eager to tear her limb from limb.

"Now, now. We mustn't forget our manners."

"Did you come in here just to taunt me?" Kami asked through gritted teeth.

Kairi blinked. "Well, yes. What else would I do with a prisoner? But luckily for you, I've had enough for today. I'll leave you with this, though. Maka has five days to get me one hundred human souls. Both of you had better hope that she succeeds." With that, Kairi left, leaving Kami again in the near complete darkness once again.

Soul's POV

Maka was pissed. No, that was an understatement. Maka was LIVID. She was stomping around the kitchen, saying I was the stupidest person to ever live, and that my plan was a suicide mission, no offense. Offense taken. It was dangerous, but calling it a suicide mission was just looking at the glass-half-empty.

"Oh, lighten up. It's going to work." I insisted to Maka. She Maka-Chopped me for the third time in twenty minutes. I tried to staunch the blood fountain problem occurring on the top of my head, only for it to be reopened when she chops me again.

"There is no way in hell that this is going to work! And don't tell me to lighten up!" She screeched, waving her arms up and down madly.

"Calm down, Maka, before you break something." That was evidently the wrong thing to say right now. She Maka-Chopped me again, and I struggled to stay conscious. She's kind of cute when she's angry, I thought to myself. As sad as it made me, she needed to calm down.

"Maka!" I yelled, after she smashed a few plates on the floor. She looked up at me with wide eyes. I never yelled, at least not at her. "Calm down, we need those plates," I said. "We don't actually have all that many."

Maka set the plate she was still holding gingerly down on the counter, and didn't say anything else.

I sighed and walked over to her, pressing my forehead gently against hers. My arms were around her waist and she started sobbing.

"This is hopeless," she said between tears. "Everyone is going to die, and it's going to be my fault."

"No, Maka. We can do this." I murmured. Maka took a deep breath and wiped the tears from her face. I could tell by her face that she was ready.

"We need a plan. First, do you remember where you were when you were kidnapped?"

"Yeah," she said. "On my way home from DWMA, I heard someone scream in this alley next to that cafe we always go to. The next thing I knew, I was with that witch."

"Okay. We'll go down the alley and try to locate the witch and your mom. When we find them we beat the crap out of everyone and be home for dinner." I said with a sarcastic smile. We were going to be home for dinner, though. It's Maka's turn to cook and I want lasagna.

She looked at me, frowning, eyes full of doubt. I leaned forward to kiss her, to reassure her that we would be OK, that I wouldn't let anyone hurt her. Maka is more important than anything. I..

"Maka.." I said, pulling away slightly. My arms were still around her waist, and the look on her face was melting my heart. "I.."

"Soul? What is it?" She whispered, placing one hand on my cheek and looping her other arm around my neck. I could feel myself blushing. "You can tell me anything."

Our lips were inches apart, and I yearned to close the gap. "I love you." I said, my lips moving against hers with each word. My eyes closed, and all that mattered was what was happening right now. This needed to last forever. Something salty passed over my lips, and I realized she was crying.

I kissed away her tears and murmured, "What's wrong?" Should I not have told her that I loved her?

"I love you too." She whispered, and I smiled. Not my usual cocky grin but a genuine smile. This was happiness. "But we need to save my mom.."

Her words shattered the peaceful haven that I had just built, and the reality of what we were going to attempt hit me. Hard. It must have shown on my face because she kissed me again and said, "We're going to be okay. We'll get through this. Together."


End file.
